Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 200 Russian Queen Elizabeth has arrived in Stockholm

Turku was the capital of Finland at that time and the center of Swedish rule in Finland. Before the rise of Russia, they had always controlled the entire eastern Baltic Sea. After Peter the Great's attack, after 21 years of the Great Northern War, it finally came to an end.

A gap has been opened in Sweden's former territory, and now the Baltic Sea is not entirely theirs. The war between the two sides actually started with the Livonian War, which lasted throughout the early and middle periods of the Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia, until Finland became a part of Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. Finally, the Grand Duchy of Finland emerged through the merger of Swedish-controlled Finland and Russia's Vyborg Province.

The alliance and peace between Russia and Sweden are more or less closely related to what is happening on the European continent. In fact, the Swedes themselves are also aware of the visit of the Russian Queen this time.

The ship departed from Turku and sailed directly to Stockholm. The freezing period had passed and the scenery on the Baltic Sea was very beautiful. When passing the main island of Åland, the wind direction was always northeasterly, which was very smooth and the distance was also very short.

Once, a guest from Russia came to Stockholm. This time the status was even higher. The Swedish artillery near Skeppsholmen fired a salute to welcome the arrival of Queen Elizabeth of Russia.

Like the previous reception, King Gustav would also hold a reception at the Swedish Royal Palace. Moreover, Louisa was Frederica's elder sister, and the sisters had similar interests, so a lot of pomp and circumstance was avoided.

The Prince of Baden, who was recovering from his injuries, was able to move around now, but Karl Ludwig's legs were still a little weak. He came here with the help of his servants. He was very happy to see his daughter again.

Various activities were indeed prepared for the reception, and such a diplomatic occasion naturally required a banquet.

The characteristic of Lake Mälaren near Stockholm is the various kinds of fish that are abundant in the lake. In addition, wild ducks and geese appeared at the banquet, which also took into account the stomachs of the Baden sisters. Frederica and Louisa are of similar age, and many small issues are "consistent".

Of course, Badberg would also appear at such a banquet. As one of the Tsar’s teachers and the Russian ambassador to Sweden, he would also appear on this occasion.

"Your Highness, I hope you will enjoy your visit to Stockholm. The scenery here is also very beautiful. According to His Majesty's instructions, I will send the embassy military attaché to accompany Your Highness in daily activities."

"Thank you. I think the military attaché you are talking about is Major Soloviev?"

"Yes, Your Highness. He has traveled to many places in Sweden before, and he accompanied His Highness the Prince of Baden on his previous trip to Lake Mälaren."

"I know that, and he is also your Majesty's aide-de-camp, but he will go to Berlin and Dresden later."

In fact, Louisa was a little reluctant to leave Solovyov. She knew that this business trip would take a long time and would require her to visit many places, and she would not be able to see him for a while.

If it was just a close sister getting married, it would be fine, but her current lover would also be away for a long time, and the mental pressure brought by this time would be doubled. Of course, she also knew that everything with Solovyov was kept secret, which was very low-key and quite safe.

As for the way here, she also knew that the accommodation arranged was on the shore of Lake Mälaren. The two of them could find a secret place to date every night or even during the day. Especially with so many islands on Lake Mälaren and a large area of ​​water, when sightseeing, they would spend half of their time staying in Drottningholm Palace and some palaces and castles, and the other half of the time would be spent on the lake, where they would be arranged to stay in manors and villas by the lake.

The schedule was arranged and Louisa agreed.

"The place where we are going to stay today, Your Highness, is the Chinese Pavilion on Queen's Island. We will go there after the banquet."

"Misha, once you have made your arrangements, you must come to me."

"I am always waiting for your call."

While the reception and concert were going on, Soloviev went to Queen's Island to arrange accommodation for his entourage and Louisa and Amalia, while the Swedish king and queen entertained the Russian queen, the parents of the two distinguished ladies, their sisters and brothers, to the theater at Drottningholm Palace to watch a play.

Although this theater is not large in scale, it is very special in Drottningholm Palace. It retains mechanically assisted performance devices and the stage machinery is very ingenious. It can be said that in the early 19th century, royal families of various countries preferred this form of performance in the court, but relatively few have survived. The theater still exists until the 21st century.

If history had followed its original course, Drottningholm Palace would have been abandoned in the twenty years after the Vasa royal family was expelled and a Frenchman became king. It was not until the reign of Oscar I that restoration began. During this period, only a few European royal family members would use the gardens when they visited Stockholm.

The Chinese Pavilion is an independent building in Drottningholm Palace. It displays many rare treasures brought back by the Swedish East India Company and is very suitable for entertaining distinguished guests.

When he saw the exterior wall of the palace, Solovyov also discovered that the Swedes, who were proficient in carpentry skills, were able to express the "Chinese style". Only the decoration style and internal structure were still European, but the meaning and general appearance were there, which was a pleasant surprise.

This is the Queen and Queen Mother of Sweden, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, the daughter of a certain "sergeant king" and sister of Frederick the Great. She loved the palace very much, which took her more than ten years to build when she was queen, and later became the property of Gustav III when he was crown prince, and has been preserved to this day.

"This palace is interesting. It is closer to the original appearance than other 'Chinese Palaces' in other places."

"No wonder. You understand Chinese culture, so you should be very familiar with this place."

"After all, this is still the frame of a European palace, but it has some Chinese porcelain as decoration. If it is according to my idea, we can also refer to Chinese porcelain and ask European porcelain factories to order some porcelain. It can be European style or imitate the appearance of Chinese utensils. For example, among Chinese porcelain, some porcelain with special color matching is still very beautiful."

Of course, if he talked about the history of porcelain development by referring to white porcelain, celadon and various other porcelains, it would be enough to confuse the Swedish eunuch who came with him.

Moreover, such an exotic Rococo decoration is suitable for Louisa to live here, and it is also convenient for her to enter and exit.

As for arranging it here, it was Frederica who suggested it to Gustav IV because she knew that her sister preferred quietness and this area had been idle after the death of Gustav III.

The "Chinese style" decorated in European style actually performs quite well here. Solovyov did not go to the theater, but he arranged accommodation.

Stopping here, one can actually appreciate Chinese-style lacquer panel paintings, which was something Solovyov had not expected. What he saw were special handicraft products brought back from China during the more prosperous period of Sweden, depicting the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou.

Moreover, the furnishings here are indeed nice, but the bed is only placed temporarily, after all, this is not a regular bedroom for the royal family.

This is also because Louisa is the Queen of Russia and has a special status. Her palace is not arranged together with her parents, sisters and brother. However, it is very convenient for them to travel between them because they are all in a large palace.

Louisa was happy that the family, except for her second sister and grandfather, were reunited here, and the play performed in the theater was "Iphigenia in Taurica", which was commissioned for the Russian royal family. It was first publicly performed during Paul's visit to the German countries, and it was considered a modern extension of Greek drama. As for the accommodation, the eldest sister was now staying in the suite of Drottningholm Palace. Only she and her entourage were in the Chinese Pavilion, which was more convenient.

Solovyov also went to inspect the facilities of the Chinese Pavilion. Although his coming to Sweden together was a coincidence, the two of them could do a lot of things on a date as long as there was no one around.

But when she returned to the palace, she found that her lover was revising the script.

"Misha, the performance at the theater was wonderful. It's a pity that you didn't go."

"But I'm also revising the script. If it's just a play, I'll have to add some conflicts, such as the maid and the old lady."

But when it comes to this, Louisa is not very happy. After all, her good sister is getting married, and the sense of déjà vu is so strong.

"I'm sorry, Louisa, I touched you so deeply."

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean it. You can come find me at night when the maids have gone to bed."

"Okay, Louisa, we still have to discuss the script tonight. I'll leave when you fall asleep."

When they saw that there was no one around, the two of them were still able to hug and kiss in such a room.

"The perfume you used today is different from usual."

"It's the natural aroma of precious wood. How do you feel?"

"I love you so much, little Laurel."

Compared with those young officers who pursued her, Louisa preferred Solovyov and made her her lover. The names he used were never clichéd. Although he sometimes repeated some allusions, she felt very useful after hearing these names.

At the same time, their hobbies were more similar. Louisa knew that Mishka liked her with some sympathy and pity. Although she was the Russian queen, she was bullied every day, and her behavior was relatively low-key and withdrawn, which made her look even more pitiful.

It is no wonder that the young officers and students around her are very sympathetic to her, but there are only a handful of them who can get into her bed.

"Luckily there's no one outside. You're being careless."

This time it was Louisa who reminded Solovyov. After they kissed, Louisa went to take a shower first, and asked her sisters to read during the rest time instead of playing cards as was common in the palace.

Although Louisa was very smart and had learned to play mahjong, she didn't like the noise made when playing mahjong. Therefore, even though she was quite skilled and once won a lot of money from Alexander, she was not willing to use this as a pastime.

Queen Mother Maria, however, liked pomp and circumstance, and during card-playing time, she changed her game of whist to mahjong.
Solovyov was not so anxious. After all, they understood each other's minds. He was a little impatient this time, but he probably wouldn't be like that next time.

As for the nighttime hours in Louisa's room, she still had to be told stories.

The relationship between the two has been rather subtle recently. He is supposed to be the younger brother and Louisa is the older sister, but it is always the younger brother who takes care of his sister, even coaxing her to sleep and soothing her wounded heart. It is indeed quite interesting.

In the Chinese Pavilion, the girls were still reading poetry at night, and Natalia started singing again. The songs she sang were those that Solovyov had copied down originally, those songs that Maria, the little girl, had written down. No one else could have made him write down a booklet of them.

"Natasha, you sing very beautifully, but this is not the song you are used to."

"Lisa, you have to know that the folk songs that Maria had Misha trapped in the children's room and the concert room and copied down are all very beautiful, not only when played, but also when sung. If you try it, you will know how pleasant they are."

"But now I am"

"It doesn't matter, just sing it. Especially for that strange song, it might be better to play it on guitar."

"You mean Alexandra? This song really doesn't require much effort, but we are not like Ekaterina of the Lopukhin family, who can play the guitar skillfully."

"It doesn't matter. Just sing it and I'll play the piano."

Then Natalia sat in front of the piano. This piano was obviously bought by the Queen of Sweden to take into account her sister's living habits. She likes singing very much, and Frederica likes playing the piano. Louisa thinks of the time she spent with her family in Karlsruhe, and she misses it very much.

When Louisa was singing this song, Solovyov happened to be outside the window and heard it.

"It's funny that Louisa actually sang this."

But he didn't care about that. He sat in the yard and listened to Louisa singing. She shed too many tears, and this song happened to be the ending song of "Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears".

But Louisa's singing was also beautiful. She is very suitable for lyrical music. However, this song always needs someone to sing accompaniment. If Natalia were to sing, it would seem very abstract for two girls to sing together.

Not abstract and not Russian, though.

(End of this chapter)